Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: The media are "really trying to brainwash America against some really good people." McMorris Rodgers is No. 4 ranking member of House Republican leadership, seen here with House Speaker Paul Ryan. less

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: The media are "really trying to brainwash America against some really good people." McMorris Rodgers is No. 4 ranking member of House Republican leadership, seen here with House ... more

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.: McMorris Rodgers is chair of the House Republican Conference. The job's duties include developing themes and talking points for Republican House members to use back home. At one past House recess, she wrote a memo to Republican members on how to manipulate town meetings to emphasize GOP talking points, and have supporters on hand. less

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.: McMorris Rodgers is chair of the House Republican Conference. The job's duties include developing themes and talking points for Republican House members to use back home. ... more

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U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, represents an Eastern Washington congressional district. She is an outspoken defender of Republicans American Health Care Act, although the Congressional Budget Office warned that millions on Medicaid would lose health care coverage.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, represents an Eastern Washington congressional district. She is an outspoken defender of Republicans American Health Care Act, although the Congressional Budget Office warned

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., with former House Speaker John Boehner.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., with former House Speaker John Boehner.

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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers with House Speaker Paul Ryan. They are outspoken advocates of Republicans' American Health Care Act, passed by the House without a hearing. The legislation would make massive cuts in Medicaid. McMorris Rodgers is accusing the news media of "really trying to brainwash Americans." less

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers with House Speaker Paul Ryan. They are outspoken advocates of Republicans' American Health Care Act, passed by the House without a hearing. The legislation would make massive cuts in ... more

The nation's news media are "really trying to brainwash America," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., a member of the House Republican leadership, charged during a Monday appearance on MSNBC.

McMorris Rodgers has been an outspoken advocate for Republicans' American Health Care Act, as well as supporting and defending President Trump's decision to pull America out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

She was asked by MSNBC host Halle Jackson: "And should the president come in front of Congress and testify under oath as he said he would do?"

Yes, replied McMorris Rodgers. It would move the media to move off its Trump-Russia preoccupation. She said:

"I think it would be great to have -- if the president is willing to do that, that's great. It means he has nothing to hide. And the fact that he wants to come and set the record straight, perhaps the media would get off it.

"I just feel like the media continues their drumbeat and really trying to brainwash America against some really good people rather than really focusing on the job that we're doing to meet the needs of the American people."

Jackson politely demurred. "I respectfully disagree with you on that point, Congresswoman, but I appreciate you joining us to talk about a lot of different topics happening over on the Hill."

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President Trump ran against the news media during the 2016 campaign, encouraging rallies to bait the reporters covering him.

Strategists for House Republicans, straining to hold their majority in 2018, are mapping a similar strategy, although McMorris Rodgers continues to get kid-gloves media treatment from TV stations and radio talk shows back home in Spokane.

But forces beyond the news media have contributed to Republicans' current travails.

A Congressional Budget Office study predicted that the GOP's American Health Care Act would cause 23 million Americans to lose their health care coverage.

The health act was passed without a single hearing in the House. McMorris Rodgers has not held any town meetings in her Eastern Washington district. She was greeted by chants of "Save Our Health Care" at a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Spokane.